HISTORY, CONSTRUCTION & PLAYING TECHNIQUE
Trapezoid box zithers played with mallets are used in various cultures all over the world. The Indian santoor was originally played in the folk music of Kashmir. It was the pioneering effort of Shivkumar Sharma in the 1970s and 1980s which raised the santoor to the level of classical raga solo instrument. Compared to its Persian counterpart the Indian santoor is relatively narrow and high and batters only slightly. The instrument is played in a cross-legged sitting position, resting on the player's lap. The mallets are wooden without any lining and relatively heavy. The sound board carries 15 small bridges on each side, with two or three strings running across each bridge. The strings are struck exclusively at the side of the bridge facing the centre of the santoor. This gives the instrument altogether 30 notes with a total of 60 or 90 strings. The strings are fixed to aglets which can be turned for tuning by means of a tuning key.
TUNING
The tonic (Sa) of the Indian santoor is usually set around Western D. However, it can be chosen a bit lower as well, according to convenience. The tuning of the strings in relation to the tonic usually depends upon the chosen raga or scale. Basically the santoor can be tuned either diatonically (like the celtic harp, e.g.) or chromatically (like the piano in Western music). Both tuning systems have their pros and cons.
DIATONIC TUNING
Diatonic tuning means that all notes of the santoor are tuned to the chosen scale. This results in a relatively strong internal resonance and long sustain, because nearly all notes are present on the right and left side both. Playing becomes easy, too, because there simply are no „wrong“ notes. However the diatonic santoor needs to be retuned each time when a different scale is used. With two or three strings involved for each single note, this retuning always means a certain effort. The diatonic tuning is used by Shivkumar Sharma. Because of his towering influence it is the most common tuning system for the Indian santoor today.
Here is a possible diatonic tuning for our santoors in Bilawal-That (Western major scale) with D used as the tonic. Each note is produced by three strings of the same pitch.
CHROMATIC TUNING
Chromatic tuning means that the 15 notes on the right side are tuned to a diatonic scale, while the notes on the left are tuned to the missing semi-tones. This is similar to the order of white and black keys on a keyboard. With this chromatic tuning system one can change immediately from one scale or raga to another without any retuning. However, one has to carefully avoid striking the „wrong“ notes accidentally.
Here is a possible chromatic tuning for our santoors in Bilawal-That (Western major scale) with D used as the tonic. Each note is produced by three strings of the same pitch.
STRINGING
Santoors from India Instruments are usually strung approximately as follows (numbered from low to high):
1.–2. wound 0,65 mm
3.–5. steel 0,45 mm
6.–8. steel 0,37 mm
9.–13. steel 0,35 mm
15.–18. steel 0,30 mm
19.–24. steel 0,27 mm
25.–30. steel 0,25 mm
The tonal range can be extended to the low octave of the tonic by changing to thicker strings for the 2nd, 4th and 6th note.
Model Paloma
Please click on an image to have a closer look. The pictures show samples of this model, but each individual instrument is unique in colour and ornamentation!
Pictures from the Monoj Kumar Sardar model are not available at the moment.
Glossary entry SANTOOR
